hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[frustratedearthmother]

Hope you get that cough syrup....if not...maybe a hot toddy?

Still waiting to hear about your opportunity - and still hoping it comes through for you.

Feel better!

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks, FEM! I did get cough syrup... that was almost a mistake. I bought the night time kind, and took a dose Thursday night when I got ready for bed. Slept like a rock until about midnight when I woke up coughing again. I counted the hours until I had to get up, and I thought ehh it's close enough that I can take another dose. Woke up when the BF was leaving for work at 5 and was like there's no way I'm getting up at 6. Reset my alarm for 7, and got up at 7 and was SOOOO groggy!! I don't know what the heck was in that stuff, but WHEW! I didn't start feeling normal again until almost noon! That made barn chores NOT fun...
I picked up an extra new client this weekend which was lovely. The farm is drop dead gorgeous, easily the prettiest one I care for, and the people are nice, and the horses are super nice, and they have a random pig named Luna that goes where ever she pleases. I love caring for places like that, it's such a joy because it's so beautiful and the people care and have the nicest things so it's hardly a struggle to manage. Added bonus the horses were super neat in their stalls.
Other than that, not much happening. Things have been moving fast and I haven't had much time to do much other than just keep grinding away at what I can manage, and sleeping/resting when I have a moment. I hope that this week I can start to catch up in the house, though I'm not going to hold my breath on that one either...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

OH dang - I hate that groggy feeling that nighttime meds give you. Glad you figured it out, lol.

The new client sounds awesome. I can understand how much more pleasant it is to work at a place that is set-up, and kept up well. They have an extra stall for Storm?

 

[hqueen13]

Heh, they could, and I think they would, I have no idea what Storm would think about a pig, though, but I guess he'd get over it eventually! It would be free board, but no pay, though, so there's that. If this other opportunity falls through I will be checking in with them for sure!

Got home yesterday to find a check from the tack consignment shop in the mail. Wahoo! They just opened up, and they can't do store credits yet, so they're mailing checks. The box of stuff I took up there looks like it mostly sold and nabbed me $48! That pays for a few things that I needed to buy with a bit left over, which is great!

Need to go to the grocery store today... and it's supposed to start rain/snowing this afternoon. We won't really get any accumulation out of it, but it'll probably be enough to buggar everything up. Fun times. Hopefully it won't take me long and I can get it done quickly.

We desperately needed a new down comforter, I hate sleeping under blankets in winter, I'm either too hot or too cold. I would really like to invest in a good quality one (ideally I'd actually prefer to go wool, but I don't have THAT kind of budget yet!), and so I decided to look up the ones from Ikea. They're pretty cheap, and decent, though not as nice as they could be. I found out that they only have a full/queen, which I dislike because it's always a bit too big for a full bed and a bit too small for a queen bed. But that made me remember that I HAD a comforter I had purchased for the spare bed at one time that was down from Ikea... and I couldn't remember what size it was. I came home and pulled it out and sure enough it is the full/queen size. It's only 86" x 86", which is smaller than our duvet, which is 92"x92", but it will work. I told the BF that we can try it out and see how it does, and if it's too small we'll get a bigger one later. I have to say it is SO much nicer to sleep under down, though! I slept way better last night, other than the moon blasting in the window and waking me up at 2 am!

I'm just glad I remembered that and we didn't have to spend the money right now! I was able to get a bit of other cleaning up done when I got home yesterday, too, which made me feel good. I haven't been able to do much of that in a while since I was sick and it's driving me crazy!

I scheduled an appointment at the DMV to get my license renewed, and updated to this fancy new real ID thing, and then realized that the boss had planned an all day work meeting on that day, which I am normally off, so now I need to go change the appointment. I did get all my paperwork together yesterday so at least I know I have all those requirements taken care of. I still have some time before my birthday when my license technically expires, so that's good, but I'd rather get it done before then since they have to mail it to me.

Now I'm just hoping this job stuff gets itself sorted out quickly so that I can figure out my new schedule. It's going to be an adjustment, and I want to get on that as soon as possible! Of course I told her I could help out on Wednesdays before things are finalized, and then the next 2 Wednesdays I have things happening. Hopefully she gets back to me soon, though, because I hate waiting on people to text me back. That makes me anxious that they're going to change their mind... I'm sure she won't, but I still worry.

Not much else happening. Just trying to keep plugging away. I have the farrier coming tomorrow morning and I haven't touched Storm's feet since she was last here, AND it's supposed to be stupid windy tomorrow. REALLY hoping that he doesn't care. We'll be trimming in the barn for sure. My friend NP is also going to come over to the farm after I'm done trimming and bring her horse to hang out for a bit, then trailer back to her farm. She has struggled with the trailer with him for years after a bad experience when he was young, so hopefully this will be all positive and he will happily get back on again.

 

[hqueen13]

WHEW. Finally some things are coming together.
Yesterday did not go as planned, it snowed over night, just a dusting, but it was heavier down at the farms I take care of. I was supposed to have an appointment with the farrier in the morning and I just didn't feel like trimming in the cold and wind, plus the barn would be dark since the skylights would be covered in snow. Not my idea of fun. I did have to put out more hay for my piggy of a horse, and drop off some supplements, and my board check, so I headed over anyway. I waited to leave because I got a snow squall warning on my phone, but then it didn't snow, so I left, and of course drove into a squall. It was pretty and not bad driving, so no big deal. Took care of things at the barn, and headed over to Cowboy and Coyote's to take care of them, and then checked in with CD at the new farm to see if she wanted help since I had more time than I thought I would. She didn't reply to my texts, so I drove over there and found the barn empty and the stalls still messy despite the fact that it was 10:30 I figured she might have gotten delayed for some reason since it snowed and that always seems to slow everything down, and I also decided that I doubted that she would turn down the help, so I left her a message on her cell phone and got started working. She texted me back after I'd been working for a while and was VERY appreciative of the help - someone else had quit on her again at her other barn (she's having a rough time of it right now!) so I just kept working and finished the chores. I was ravenous by the time I was done, it was now 2:00 and I hadn't had anything to eat other than the bowl of cereal before I left and a small protein drink. Not exactly smart planning but I wasn't exactly expecting to do ALL of the barn by myself, either. I finished there and ran by Cowboy and Coyote's again, and then headed into town to run some errands. I stopped at Starbucks to use a gift card and get something to eat because I was about to die. I finally got home at 4:30, which wasn't bad timing considering how many stops I made.
CD texted me later and let me know how appreciative she was to have the help, and also told me that she was going to arrange to move a horse out by Februrary so I can move Storm in and start working for real. I was SO relieved that she was able to work it out, and now I can start making plans. She also told me what she worked up as the deal for me. So my board will be covered (that saves $450 at her place), and she'll pay me $40/day to do the feed, turnout and stalls. I think she can get it done in about 3 hours, but it will likely take me closer to 4, but we'll see how efficient I can become. I also think my stall cleaning standards are higher than hers, so I need to balance that out and do it to her level of cleanliness so that I can go faster. In summer it will go faster, too, since the horses won't be in as long and aren't as messy. We've agreed that I can work 4 days a week, so that's an extra $160/week, which is $640/month!! That's HUGE! PLUS I'll be saving the $175 I already pay in board, AND I won't have to buy my own hay or sawdust! So I'll stop by this afternoon to pick up the pay for doing everything for her yesterday, and then we'll work out a schedule of what I can work between now and February to get up to speed on the routine so that when Storm arrives I will have everything down pat. Now I need to call the vet out and get him up to date on shots (not what I want to do, but at this point I need a change), and then figure out arrangements for someone to haul him. I should probably work him before I go at least some so that he's in a good place mentally, but we'll see how the weather is.
Next step is to finish up the financial tracking for the past year, and figure out how much we've spent on the business that was spent out of our personal accounts, then figure out how quickly I can begin to work on paying that back to ourselves now that I have additional income rolling in. I'm also going to do a balance transfer on some of my debt to try to get the interest eliminated and get the total amount of interest down that I have to pay so that maybe I can start to make a dent in that. Then I need to figure out how much it's going to cost to start checking items off the list to move towards having Storm at HOME. I know the first step is to get a survey done, and it's winter, so hopefully I can get that done quickly and get that paid for. I may go ahead and arrange it and then put it on the card and pay for it over the next few months. Not what I want to do, but I also need to get this ball rolling before stuff starts growing in spring. Then it's going to be figuring out costs for materials and a shed and all that fun stuff.
Once tax returns hit the first priority is to get the electricity upgraded into the house because so much is hinging on having the panel upgraded so that we have room to do a lot of other work. We can't add lights or electric anywhere else until that's done.
SO things are finally rolling along a little bit. Slowly but surely anyway. I'm also going to talk to my boss again about an official raise to see if I can work out a new plan with him since some things are going to be changing in the nearish future. If he gives me what I'm asking for it would be a huge help, and enable me to get a lot more done, too!

 

[flowerbug]

our local Goodwill has comforters for a decent price and if you can get them on the half-off tag days that makes it even better. $10 for a good comforter instead of $30-$50.

sounds like you go flat out! hang in there. yes, get that debt paid off ASAP, especially credit cards. those can really gouge ya.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Woohoo - glad things are working out for you!

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks yall!
The weekend wasn't bad, the weather was ok during the day, warmer than usual, and we did have rain overnight on Saturday, which made things pretty muddy. Saturday morning we got a dump run in, and then headed to the barn to put the hay away that was delivered. We cleaned out the stuff that was stored in the barn after that, which was good and long over due. There's only 1 more barrel of stuff, plus 2 tubs that are left, and the tubs have horse stuff in them so they'll stay there until I'm ready to move Storm. I'm SO glad to have that mostly accomplished. If I get my act together I might be able to take some things over to the tack consignment shop on Friday, and/or get some things listed for sale before then. That would be super helpful to get some of that stuff out of here.
Sunday the BF cleaned the house while I did barn chores since his parents wanted to stop by. They've been bugging us about it, so we finally decided to let them come, and then conveniently told them we had to leave pretty quickly so they couldn't stay. We discovered that if his dad sees finished projects, and he hasn't been there in a while he's MUCH more positive than if he sees things a mess and in progress. Then he's full of criticism and "advice" that isn't helpful at all. So we just have to figure out how to not let him visit that often and make sure the projects are finished when he comes over. Otherwise he's unhelpful and annoying. At least we figured that out!
I got word from CD, the barn manager at the new place that she's probably not going to have room for my horse until March, which is a little disappointing, but we'll manage. That gives me a little more time to earn a bit more cash working a couple extra days a week for her first and then I can start working four days a week. It's not ideal, and it's going to suck away all remnants of extra time that I had available between now and then, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. I did tell TM, and she was disappointed, which I expected. I'm glad to have that behind me, though, and now I can just keep on working on moving forward. If he doesn't leave until March I'll probably have to get him one more bale of hay, which is annoying, but it is what it is.
This morning I was taking care of the morning turnout, and was throwing hay for Storm and manged to tweak my back. I don't know that I'm going to be able to stay in the office all day at this rate, it's pretty painful. Sitting is ok, and walking is ok, it's the in between that's awful. I took ibuprofen and put some ointment on it that I had with me, but that hasn't helped much. I think once my boss gets here and I chat with him a bit I'm going to head home and finish working from home today where I can put some heat on my back and lay on the floor for a while. I don't have time to be laid up for sure!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh no- your poor back. I can sympathize for sure.
Bummed on waiting until March to move Storm- but hopefully it’ll go by quickly!

 

[hqueen13]

Today it's a bit better, though sitting is not my friend I am learning. I probably should have just worked from home today instead of coming into the office, but oh well. I did bring my ice pack and my heating pad so that I can alternate throughout the day. I'm also in the office that no one else is in today, which means if it gets bad enough I can lay on the floor for a while, which I did this morning when I got here. My BF was a champ and helped me get hay put out for Cowboy and Coyote, and he put out 6 bales in the feeders, so they should be good for the rest of the week. All I'll need to do is keep up with the manure. Hopefully it doesn't rain too much today so the mud doesn't get worse again and I can manage it. I decided I wasn't going to do it in the dark, so all I did this morning was double check their water, and I'll take care of feeding them and mucking in the afternoon when it's daylight and I can see where I'm slipping and sliding in the mud. I'm SO blessed that they are really easy to care for and totally flexible. I'm also really grateful that I'm not actually working the job yet, although I still have to be in the barn to do barn chores, so it's really no different. But at least I don't have to be back there until Friday. I'll skip yoga class, I'll just go to open up the studio and that will be it, and that way I can go a little slower on the chores and won't have to rush. I do have an appointment at the dmv to get my new license (gotta upgrade to the fancy new real ID... fun fun), but that's it for Friday. I'm not going to be in the office today for too long, either, and I'll probably go home and soak in a hot bath with some salts. I'm throwing everything I have at this because I don't have time to be down, so I'm just being really careful and eliminating what I can't do and being really conscious about what I have to do. So it goes.
Not much else to report at this point. Looks like our warm weather is going to end later this week. I'm sort of ok with that. We need cold weather to kill the bugs, and honestly once it gets cold and stays cold you adapt to a routine and rhythm of doing the work. When the temps are all over the place nothing ever settles in and it's challenging to keep adapting to the changes fast enough.